Good news, you space-faring fans of Starfinder: the STARFINDER ARMORY is here and it is stuffed to the gills with gear! There are new ways to frag, slag, burn, kill, maim, and otherwise cut a swath across the Core Worlds and beyond in this book, so let’s get cracking!
Let’s kick things off with a discussion of what everyone comes to a review of a gear book for: the art! Kudos to all the artists associated with this product, the art is uniformly rich and evocative. Full-page spreads really help sell the potentially epic scale of a Starfinder campaign, and the interstitial pieces, while infrequent, are both refreshing against pages of text and a delight in their own right.
Now, on to the gear! Unfortunately, while Starfinder has all the guns you’ll ever need, that information isn’t easy to read or reference. There are over 17 contiguous pages of tables JUST for weapons, which makes for a disorienting read even when using the physical book. A corollary to this problem is that since the tables are all squeezed together, so too are the weapon descriptions. These two issues form a nasty intersection: by the time you get to the weapon descriptions, you’ve likely forgotten what entry in which table a given description refers to.
While I can’t begin to claim the kind of layout design expertise that Paizo has, my instinct would have been to break up the weapons tables with the weapon descriptions, and more of the excellent interstitial art. Full-page art spreads are nice, but I think readability is more essential in a table-heavy book like a gear supplement.
On to more good things! Weapon modifications and manufacturers are a lovely bit of customization for everyone to use, and you full-attackers and snipers will find some welcome toys in the Weapon Accessories section. The wording is a little fuzzy on the Modifications section; you’ll want to work out with your GM whether the additional 10% cost based on the base weapon or on the modified total.
Other stand-outs to me are the new Augmentations. The magitech augmentations really strike a great balance between creepy and cool – you’ll see what I mean – and I will never not be amused by the Fluttering Heart augmentation’s groveling ability. The Necrografts (NECROGRAFTS!) really steal the show for me, because what adventurer doesn’t relish the idea of grafting bits of dead things onto themselves for a power boost! Sure, the munchkins will like the moonlight fibers, which can give you haste for a round, but I’m here for the Squirming Entrails, which let you eat anything and extrude your organs for an extra limb!
Finally, it’s the little details that really sell a gear book to me. I’m already planning on tricking a player into drinking mercury because of how x-ray serum is “a fluid that looks like mercury and tastes like metal”. I have to give a tip of my hat to Paizo for including strategy games in their strategy games. And for all of you missing your favorite wand of wonder, fear not: Starfinder Armory brings it back, this time in grenade form.
Even the personal items section is a delight, perfect for adding some real meat to the pretty bare-bones adventuring items section in the Core Rules. Other fun expansions on the Core Rules include the short explorations of the culinary cultures of the core races, as well as expanded rules for hirelings!
At the end of the day, you’re picking up the Starfinder Armory for guns, guns, and more guns, and you better believe that the Starfinder Armory delivers.
This article was contributed by Ben Reece (LongGoneWrier) as part of ENWorld's User-Generated Content (UGC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
Let’s kick things off with a discussion of what everyone comes to a review of a gear book for: the art! Kudos to all the artists associated with this product, the art is uniformly rich and evocative. Full-page spreads really help sell the potentially epic scale of a Starfinder campaign, and the interstitial pieces, while infrequent, are both refreshing against pages of text and a delight in their own right.
Now, on to the gear! Unfortunately, while Starfinder has all the guns you’ll ever need, that information isn’t easy to read or reference. There are over 17 contiguous pages of tables JUST for weapons, which makes for a disorienting read even when using the physical book. A corollary to this problem is that since the tables are all squeezed together, so too are the weapon descriptions. These two issues form a nasty intersection: by the time you get to the weapon descriptions, you’ve likely forgotten what entry in which table a given description refers to.
While I can’t begin to claim the kind of layout design expertise that Paizo has, my instinct would have been to break up the weapons tables with the weapon descriptions, and more of the excellent interstitial art. Full-page art spreads are nice, but I think readability is more essential in a table-heavy book like a gear supplement.
On to more good things! Weapon modifications and manufacturers are a lovely bit of customization for everyone to use, and you full-attackers and snipers will find some welcome toys in the Weapon Accessories section. The wording is a little fuzzy on the Modifications section; you’ll want to work out with your GM whether the additional 10% cost based on the base weapon or on the modified total.
Other stand-outs to me are the new Augmentations. The magitech augmentations really strike a great balance between creepy and cool – you’ll see what I mean – and I will never not be amused by the Fluttering Heart augmentation’s groveling ability. The Necrografts (NECROGRAFTS!) really steal the show for me, because what adventurer doesn’t relish the idea of grafting bits of dead things onto themselves for a power boost! Sure, the munchkins will like the moonlight fibers, which can give you haste for a round, but I’m here for the Squirming Entrails, which let you eat anything and extrude your organs for an extra limb!
Finally, it’s the little details that really sell a gear book to me. I’m already planning on tricking a player into drinking mercury because of how x-ray serum is “a fluid that looks like mercury and tastes like metal”. I have to give a tip of my hat to Paizo for including strategy games in their strategy games. And for all of you missing your favorite wand of wonder, fear not: Starfinder Armory brings it back, this time in grenade form.
Even the personal items section is a delight, perfect for adding some real meat to the pretty bare-bones adventuring items section in the Core Rules. Other fun expansions on the Core Rules include the short explorations of the culinary cultures of the core races, as well as expanded rules for hirelings!
At the end of the day, you’re picking up the Starfinder Armory for guns, guns, and more guns, and you better believe that the Starfinder Armory delivers.
This article was contributed by Ben Reece (LongGoneWrier) as part of ENWorld's User-Generated Content (UGC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!
